Assam seeks Rs 3.07 lakh crore from Finance Commission

Guwahati: The Assam government has sought over Rs 3.07 lakh crore from the 14th Finance Commission to meet the state's non-plan expenditure and give an added thrust to infrastructure development projects.

The government submitted a memorandum seeking to meet committed expenditure and carry forward infrastructure development activities, an official release said in Guwahati.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at a meeting with Commission Chairman YV Reddy requested for increase of the size of the divisible pool of central taxes from 32 to 50 percent.

"The Commission should take an effective step to rectify the vertical imbalances between the Centre and the states by way of bringing cess and surcharges to the shareable pool of resources," he said.

Making a plea that reduction of royalty on crude oil at discounted price had hit the state's economy hard, Gogoi urged the Commission to intervene in amending the existing method for calculating the rate of royalty on crude oil from the existing 20 to at least 30 percent.

He appealed for inclusion of erosion as a natural calamity under Calamity Relief Fund and provide Rs 1,000 crore for rehabilitation of erosion-affected families.

"Erosion is a much graver problem than floods. So far 4.27 lakh hectare of land has been eroded since 1950. Every year the state accounts for average loss of 8,000 hectare due to erosion," Gogoi added.

Gogoi requested the Commission to give serious thought to both flood and erosion and consider special grant of Rs 6,000 crore to tackle it.

He contended that as the salary expenditure was more than 45 percent of total revenue expenditure, the 13th Finance Commission's directive to put a cap on the expenditure of salary to 35 percent of revenue expenditure was an 'unrealistic assumption'.

"We request the Commission to provide full assistance for covering the gap including the additional financial implication on account of revision of pay and pension to eliminate the gap in non-plan revenue account," he added.

Gogoi also urged that Assam be retained as a Special Category State in the light of Raghuram Rajan Committee Report and requested the Commission to set aside at least 30 percent of the shareable pool for distribution among special category states.

The chairman, appreciating the submission of a detailed memorandum on the state's finances said, "The state has been able to bring about peace and accelerate development in the past decade, while infrastructural development is critical for Assam's emerging role in India's Look East Policy."